RESIDENTS of Macquarie Street in Morisset say Roads and Maritime Services risks creating a major safety problem with their planned overhaul of the notorious intersection at Fishery Point Road. The residents support the installation of traffic lights, raised concrete medians, and new lane markings at the trouble spot. But they say plans to eliminate the break-down lane at the front of their properties will create another hazard. John and Cherylanne Auston have lived on Macquarie Street, near the intersection, for 44 years, and agree that works are long overdue to curb the speeding, crashes and traffic queues there. “The traffic lights will be good. We just need to be able to access our properties,” Mr Auston said. Residents currently pull off the carriageway into the break-down lane so that they can safely manoeuvre their vehicles to reverse down their steep driveways. This means that they can then drive nose-first out onto the busy main street by first inching out onto the breakdown lane to gain a clear line of sight to the oncoming traffic. Residents fear that if the break-down lane is wiped out, they will have a dangerous time entering their driveways nose-first, then a near-impossible task trying to reverse out of their driveways onto busy Macquarie Street. “We’ll have to slow down everybody else behind us on Macquarie Street to enter our driveways, and risk being hit from behind,” Mr Auston said. Mrs Auston said it was not only a safety issue, but one of personal isolation. “We’ll become prisoners in our own homes,” she said. The Austons say eliminating the break-down lane will also create untold problems for emergency services vehicles, the postman, and visitors accessing the affected houses. Their neighbour Phil Peterson suspects the RMS might not have been aware of the steep gradients of the affected driveways, and the issues that flow from that. “It’s a safety issue for everybody concerned – not only the residents, but traffic going past, and for pedestrians,” he said. The residents say the break-down lane could be retained, and the problem solved, if the RMS shifts the works marginally to the railway side of the road, where there are no homes. Traffic light relief coming for Morisset intersection Fishery Point Road work to investigate utilities Morisset bypass a better option

RESIDENTS of Macquarie Street in Morisset say Roads and Maritime Services risks creating a major safety problem with their planned overhaul of the notorious intersection at Fishery Point Road.

Residents urge RMS to rethink one aspect of Morisset works | photos

AFETY BUFFER: John and Cherylanne Auston in the breakdown lane at the front of their property on Macquarie Street. Residents use the lane to safely reverse down their steep driveways. Picture: David Stewart

The Austons said residents and visitors to the homes on Macquarie Street used the breakdown lane to safely manouevre their vehicles into and out of the steep driveways there. Picture: David Stewart

Residents said they hoped RMS staff would acknowledge the unique safety challenges posed by the steep driveways on the street, and determine that the breakdown lane should be retained. Picture: David Stewart

Mr Auston said: "We're not whingers. We just want to be able to maintain our lifestyle and to be able to access our properties safely." Picture: David Stewart

Artwork of the proposed intersection upgrade shows a planned no-stopping zone on Macquarie Street, west of the intersection with Fishery Point Road. Artwork: Supplied

The residents support the installation of traffic lights, raised concrete medians, and new lane markings at the trouble spot.

But they say plans to eliminate the break-down lane at the front of their properties will create another hazard.

John and Cherylanne Auston have lived on Macquarie Street, near the intersection, for 44 years, and agree that works are long overdue to curb the speeding, crashes and traffic queues there.

“The traffic lights will be good. We just need to be able to access our properties,” Mr Auston said.

Residents currently pull off the carriageway into the break-down lane so that they can safely manoeuvre their vehicles to reverse down their steep driveways.

This means that they can then drive nose-first out onto the busy main street by first inching out onto the breakdown lane to gain a clear line of sight to the oncoming traffic.

The traffic lights will be good. We just need to be able to access our properties.

- John Auston

Residents fear that if the break-down lane is wiped out, they will have a dangerous time entering their driveways nose-first, then a near-impossible task trying to reverse out of their driveways onto busy Macquarie Street.

“We’ll have to slow down everybody else behind us on Macquarie Street to enter our driveways, and risk being hit from behind,” Mr Auston said.

Mrs Auston said it was not only a safety issue, but one of personal isolation.

“We’ll become prisoners in our own homes,” she said.

The Austons say eliminating the break-down lane will also create untold problems for emergency services vehicles, the postman, and visitors accessing the affected houses.

Their neighbour Phil Peterson suspects the RMS might not have been aware of the steep gradients of the affected driveways, and the issues that flow from that.

“It’s a safety issue for everybody concerned – not only the residents, but traffic going past, and for pedestrians,” he said.

The residents say the break-down lane could be retained, and the problem solved, if the RMS shifts the works marginally to the railway side of the road, where there are no homes.